There used to be an apricot orchard. And then Apple bought it to build a huge campus with research and development facilities on their newly-acquired 150-acre site. The project was prompted by the Apple's late CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs, who hired Foster + Partners, a British firm, to design a modern, green structure that will encourage interactive and creative work environment. The constantly in-coming new footage on YouTube shows just how quickly the building work is coming along.

The stunning 5-billion-dollar Apple Campus 2 will provide office space for 12,000 people with the central point being a 260,000-square-metre flying-saucer-like building, surrounding a large outdoor park with jogging paths and walking trails. Designers say that the site will consist of no less than 80 per cent green space, with over 7,000 trees planted in the area.

The four-storey circular structure will have huge walls of glass, so the people working there will be able to enjoy the view from both sides of the ring. Due to its size, the building is often compared to an airport, with cafes, lobbies and many entrances breaking the monumentalness of the project. There will be over 14,000 available parking spaces underneath the main building, so the many vehicles don't spoil the view.

The Apple Campus 2 aims to be self-sufficient, using one hundred percent renewable energy, so most of the power needed for the facilities to function will come from a so-called 'on-site low carbon Central Plant'. The top of the building will be equipped with solar panels.

With more information to follow, this might be one of the most interesting building projects of this kind in years. And surely, after it's finished, we'll soon be drooling over images of 'every man's ideal working spaces' at Apple. Looking forward to see the interior design!

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